This Blue Sombrero feature allows potential volunteers to tell the Region that they want to be “team coach for 8UB and assistant coach for 6UG” when they have multiple children and they are volunteering for team related positions like team coach, assistant coach, team parent/manager or Division Coordinator.

Because some programs may need to ask additional questions depending on the division, such as licensing, practice/game time availability, etc., the system presents the application process for each division.

We recognize the dramatic change, confusion and frustration this change causes and it is on our list for reconsideration. Region wide volunteer position registration for referees, board members and other non-team positions, is already on the development plan as well.

In the short term, for team volunteers, we recommend that they pick one position/division; complete the application, eSignature and background check if required; and save it.

Team volunteers can then request other volunteer positions by going back to the Account User Profile, select Volunteers and request other positions. They will still be presented with an application for each position, but the applications will be prepopulated with their answers and only require an eSignature. The system will not submit duplicate background checks.

Admins can set up a request for donations to appear at the checkout screen. Admins can set four recommended donation amounts, and enable users to enter a custom donation amount. Note: IRS requires that donations requested for a specific purpose must be used for that purpose and cannot be diverted to other needs.

Yes, for the Region fees. Everyone is required to pay the AYSO Annual Membership Fee. Regions can create and distribute coupon codes which discount the fees owed to the Region. Admins are not able to discount AYSO National Fees in Blue Sombrero. More information is available on our support site.

The credit card processing fee is 3.4% across the board. Regions must collect the same fees from each parent, regardless of payment method. For Cash/Check payments this must include the AYSO National Membership Fee.

IMPORTANT NOTICE: Regions cannot discount cash/check payments because it is unlawful to pass the credit card fee on to the consumer.

The AYSO Membership Fee (formerly known as the National Player Fee) is a non-refundable and non-transferable member fee to participate in AYSO. Membership in AYSO is required for each Membership Year (8/1 – 7/31) before a member may participate in any AYSO program or event. This fee entitles the member to all benefits for that membership year, including:

All fields required by AYSO National are locked down as required, and automatically appear as required fields in Blue Sombrero. All fields that aren’t required by AYSO National are automatically set to Not Required. These questions can be set to Required if the admin chooses to do so.

No. Player information cannot be edited after a player is created. This is to ensure player information matches the player’s AYSO ID. If information needs to be edited because it has been entered incorrectly, the admin can email aysosupport@bluesombrero.com with the information that needs to be changed.

Yes. Every player in Blue Sombrero is created under a family account. That means users only need one login for all their players’ registrations, volunteer roles, team communication and mobile app access.

Regional Commissioners are able to merge family accounts when parents accidentally create duplicates. They are then able to archive duplicate players or volunteers. If an existing player or volunteer is created in Blue Sombrero, but that user is given a new AYSO ID, there is a mismatch between AYSO’s records and the data entered in Blue Sombrero. For example, this could happen if a player was entered with the first name Benjamin in AYSO and entered as Ben in Blue Sombrero. To connect the correct AYSO ID, just update the player or volunteer’s information to match what already exists in eAYSO.

Regional Commissioners, Assistant Regional Commissioners and Registrars have access to all admin pages. Treasurers are able to see all Report and Order-related admin pages. Child and Volunteer Protection Advocates and Coach Administrators are able to see all team-related admin pages. Division Coordinators are able to see all team-related admin pages for the specified division.

Parents will have the option to opt-in to receive text message alerts from the Region. A cell phone is needed for this feature. If you don’t have a cell phone, please enter your home phone number and opt-out from the text messages alerts.

Yes, they won’t be visible to anyone but the Admin. When creating a family account, users must enter their participants’ genders and dates of birth. Participants must be age and gender eligible for a program to see and register for it.

Background check results and statuses will be processed by the National Office as they are today with two exceptions. First, background checks will be automatically submitted to the vendor once a Membership Year and the applicant will submit a SSN and consent for screening directly to the vendor during the registration process. AYSO and Blue Sombrero will not store the applicant’s SSN.

Secondly, volunteers will not be assignable to positions until their background check has been processed for the Membership Year. Background check results vary in the time it takes to be processed by the vendor depending on any number of factors including the county searched or commonality of the name.

Blue Sombrero has a very robust reporting tool. There are many similar reports already formatted and every report can be modified and saved as a separate version (including separate data fields). There are ad hoc reporting options.

Team Sports HQ is Blue Sombrero’s free mobile app focused on players and parents. The app gives parents one convenient place to view their players’ schedules, find directions to fields, communicate with one another and share game photos. The app is available for Android and iOS.

No, the player can register for more than one program in more than one Region. The player will only be required to pay the AYSO Membership Fee once for each Membership Year. Some programs may have additional fees.

Yes, Regions will be able to offer multi-player discounts, called “Family Discounts” in Blue Sombrero, as well as many other discounts.

Regions will also be able to set fees by Division and set up payment plans. Regions will no longer have to include the National Membership Fee in their Region fee calculations (unless collecting cash/check payments).

The preferred method of payment in Blue Sombrero is credit cards, debit cards or pre-paid credit cards. Payments collected by Blue Sombrero are automatically routed to a Region’s bank via ACH transfer for all Region fees collected. Similarly, the AYSO Membership fee will be automatically routed to the National bank account, eliminating Player Fee Invoicing, Accounts Receivable and Top 5 Reporting.

In the long run, this will dramatically simplify Region fund management. Nonetheless, cash/check payments may be accepted, but require additional Region processing.

There will be a bi-weekly deposit to the Region’s bank account of all the fees that are collected and paid by credit card and a corresponding MDRF will be automatically logged into the Region’s NAP online account.

There will not be data transfer to Blue Sombrero. All the historical data will remain in eAYSO and all new information will be updated from Blue Sombrero through Application Program Interfaces (APIs).

Certifications: Certifications will continue to be associated with the volunteer record when the volunteer applies on Blue Sombrero.

Player Ratings: Player Ratings will not transfer from eAYSO to the new player record. Any player ratings stored in Blue Sombrero will stay associated with that player season to season and they can be used in automatic team assignment.

Player/Volunteer history: All player and volunteer information will continue to update in eAYSO.

Yes, cash and checks may be accepted by Regions, but are not recommended. When parents pay by either credit card, debit card or pre-paid credit cards, the fees flow through Blue Sombrero directly to Region, Area, Section and National Office bank accounts with complete transparency. Corresponding automated entries are made to NAP Online to record revenue and provide financial updates.

When a Region, Area or Section accepts cash or check payments, they will be required to pay the National Membership Fee to the National Office before the player can be assigned to teams. In order to better serve those Regions who need to accept larger volumes of cash/check payments for player registration fees, we have implemented the following “batch” process to enable the payment of the National Annual Membership fees for those players:

First, all parents must complete their Player’s Registration Form in BSB and eSign it so that a Player Registration form with all the required waivers is on file (per Bylaw 1.04, Policies & Protocols). Parents who do not want to pay be credit, debit or pre-paid credit card can leave the registration in their shopping cart without paying and print their form when they review it during the eSignature process. This registration becomes an Open Shopping Cart Order.

Regions can accept cash/check payment in person, but are still required to update the system with payments they have accepted. A new report, “AYSO Cash/Check File” is available under Reports >Billing Reports which reports players requiring payment of the National Membership Fee. Regions generate this report as an Excel spreadsheet and mark the players paid in the spreadsheet.

Regions email the Excel spreadsheet to feepayment@ayso.org and send a check for ($17.50 + a $1.00) for each player marked paid to the AYSO Lockbox address. There is an additional $1.00 per player fee for each player processed. Once Finance has confirmed payment, the player records will be updated as “paid” for the Membership Year and the Region will be notified.

The Region can then complete the registration order by opening each paid Open Order and indicating the Region fees paid by cash/check.
This process is very similar to the current procedures for paying National Fee Invoices from eAYSO and should help Regions bridge the gap to electronic payments.

Alternatively, Regions may apply for and use a Wells Fargo Commercial credit card to pay for the player’s National Membership fees. When a Region, Area or Section accepts cash or check payments, they will be required to use a Wells Fargo Commercial credit card to pay for the player’s National Membership fee. Payment of the National Membership fee “registers” a player to make the player eligible to be assigned to a team and print a player ID card.

The Wells Fargo Commercial credit card is available to the Regional Commissioner, Area Director, or Section Director.

If you are a Section Director, Area Director or Regional Commissioner and would like a Wells Fargo Commercial credit card for Region use, please contact CommercialCard@ayso.org to start the process. Note that no one else on the Regional Board can submit a request.

Membership in AYSO is required for each Membership Year (8/1 – 7/31) before a member may participate in any AYSO program or event.
Once issued or purchased, some of products or services cannot be refunded/returned. This is consistent with membership in other youth sports organizations.

The AYSO National Membership Fee ($17.50) will be added to the shopping cart when a parent applies for their child to play in a program for the first time ach Membership Year. The AYSO National Membership fee will only be charged once per Membership Year regardless of the number of programs or Regions the player participates in.

The AYSO Membership Fee (formerly known as the National Player Fee) is non-refundable and non-transferable member fee to participate in AYSO. Membership in AYSO is required for each Membership Year (8/1 – 7/31) before a member may participate in any AYSO program or event. This fee entitles the member to all benefits for that membership year, including:

Free Blue Sombrero websites are available for all Regions to hold Registration for Membership Year 2017. All parents and volunteers will have to create a new login on Blue Sombrero in order to enable the single-sign-on utility and to upgrade security credentials.